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Tuesday, January 17, 2017

Open Heavens Devotional Tuesday 17 January 2017: FIRST DEAL WITH SIN

FIRST DEAL WITH SIN – Tuesday January 17th, 2017

Memorise: When Jesus saw their faith, he said unto the sick of the palsy, Son, thy sins be forgiven thee. Mark 2:5

Read: Mark 2:1-12 (King James Version)1 And again he entered into Capernaum after some days; and it was noised that he was in the house. 2 And straightway many were gathered together, insomuch that there was no room to receive them, no, not so much as about the door: and he preached the word unto them. 3 And they come unto him, bringing one sick of the palsy, which was borne of four. 4 And when they could not come nigh unto him for the press, they uncovered the roof where he was: and when they had broken it up, they let down the bed wherein the sick of the palsy lay. 5 When Jesus saw their faith, he said unto the sick of the palsy, Son, thy sins be forgiven thee. 6 But there was certain of the scribes sitting there, and reasoning in their hearts, 7 Why doth this man thus speak blasphemies? who can forgive sins but God only? 8 And immediately when Jesus perceived in his spirit that they so reasoned within themselves, he said unto them, Why reason ye these things in your hearts? 9 Whether is it easier to say to the sick of the palsy, Thy sins be forgiven thee; or to say, Arise, and take up thy bed, and walk? 10 But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins, (he saith to the sick of the palsy,) 11 I say unto thee, Arise, and take up thy bed, and go thy way into thine house. 12 And immediately he arose, took up the bed, and went forth before them all; insomuch that they were all amazed, and glorified God, saying, We never saw it on this fashion. Bible in one year: Mark 5-6, Isaiah 13:17-14:11

MESSAGE:

In Romans 6:23, the Bible establishes that there is a relationship between sin and death. From observation, we know that sickness is an agent of death. For the discerning mind, it follows that there is also a relationship between sin and sickness. In 1st Kings 17:17-18, when the son of the widow of Zarephath died, she cried out to God’s servant saying, “What have I to do with thee, O thou man of God? art thou come unto me to call my sin to remembrance, and to slay my son?”1st Kings 17:18b

What was she really saying? She had the understanding the death could come as a result of sin, and that sickness is an agent or forerunner of death. If you want to enjoy the long life that God has promised His children, you must therefore keep a safe distance from sin. If you are still living in sin after confessing Christ as your Lord and Saviour, and at the same time you expect God to keep death far away from you, you must be joking. Every act of sin you wilfully engage in exposes you to the agents of death. You shall not destroy yourself before your God-ordained appointment with death in Jesus’ Name!

Similarly, in Mark 2:1-12, when a man who was paralysed from the neck down was brought to Jesus, as bad as his condition was, the Lord simply ignored what every other person cared about and forgave him his sins first. Nobody thought this was relevant. The Lord did this because He could see that this man’s spiritual condition was far worse than his physical state of health. For this reason, I often marvel when some ministers focus on healing the sick before preaching salvation to them. Several prayers for the sick are unanswered because of the presence of sin in their lives. It is wisdom to first deal with the sin in the life of the sinner before asking God to heal the fellow. If the sick sinner is healed before being asked to surrender to Jesus, he may refuse to surrender at all after receiving the healing. He may think his healing was by chance and not from your prayer, and if he returns to his sin, the sickness may come back. If he then dies in his sin, his soul will go to hell. But if the fellow is first made to receive Jesus Christ before being healed, there is a greater chance of him following the Lord. Even if the healing is not manifested, if he dies, his soul is saved from eternal hell. Always deal with sin first!

Key point: When confronted with the problems of sin and sickness, it is wisdom to deal first with sin because it could be the root cause of the sickness.

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Akinrinwa Akinbowale is a blogger, infopreneur, blog/web designer, researcher and an online tutor. He lives in Akure, Ondo state, Nigeria with his family. You can reach him on akinsquared2000@yahoo.com or call +2348035661205.